Beyond the Ingroup VS. Outgroup Dichotomy: Exploring Multiple Crossed Categorization patterns across Cultures

Studies on crossed categorization, where targets representing two cross-cutting group memberships are evaluated, repeatedly find that (1) the more group memberships a participant and a target share, the more positive is the attitude towards the target (additive pattern), and (2) when real-life social categories are used, some categories produce more intergroup bias than others. Using a factorial survey design with nine real-life dimensions of social categorization in four countries (Armenia, Australia, Brazil, and India, total N = 1281), we test (1) whether additive pattern replicates when more than two categorization dimensions are used and (2) what predicts the strength of intergroup bias on the dominant dimension of categorization. We find that additive pattern holds in all four countries. The dominant category differs across countries: in Australia and India the strongest bias occurs on the dimension of religion, in Brazil – on political orientation, and in Armenia – on sexual orientation. We find that perceived threat and importance of the categorization dimension for the participants’ self-concept predict the strength of bias on the dominant categorization dimension. However, perceived threat only predicts the strength of bias when majority group members are evaluating minority group members, but not the other way around.